I Want You to Be an Anarchist

Anarchism is probably not what you think it is; it is not mass murder, bombs and bazookas, arenas and gladiators, bloodshed, or Mad Max and the Thunderdome. Anarchism is simply the ability to live a life of cooperation without fear of being told how to cooperate.

The word comes from the Greek. It means “Without Rulers.” It is true that the term has picked up some nasty connotations. It has come to mean political strife or disorder. However, this misconception of meaning does not resonate with how anarchists think or feel. In reality, anarchists want to be your friend. They believe in compassion and human connection.

Anarchism is not even a political term. It is apolitical. Anarchism is not about building bureaucracies or attempting to coerce people to live a certain way. It is about voluntary interaction and respect of property rights. Anarchists are freedom fiends and connoisseurs of love. They want to rid the world of politics and the horrible suffering they cause.

Anarchists believe you should be able to plant gardens of fruits and vegetables in your front lawn without having to appeal to city codes. They want you to be able to work without a license, without permission from sociopathic social engineers.

You should be able to carry a gun wherever you please so long as you mind your own business. You should be able to collect rainwater and drink raw milk. You should be able to smoke whatever plant you want whenever you want. You should be able to live of your own volition so long as you don’t harm anyone. You should be able to do all of these things without having to ask permission.

This is what anarchists want; it is why I want you to be an anarchist.

The philosophy is not about Utopia or some skewed vision of the perfect society. Instead, It is about voluntary interaction and freedom from controlling humans. It is about the I-Thou relationship, about you and I joining together and building rapport.

In the absence of anarchism, destruction, death, bombs and bazookas terrorize everyone, because it is what authority produces. If anything is chaos and destruction, it is the environment created and maintained by status quo politicians.

Let’s do away with that. Come to peace. Become free; relate to me without violence.

Discover anarchy.

I am the Psychologic Anarchist, Sterlin. Find me over at www.psychologic-anarchist.com and on Facebook, where we are trying to build more compassionate and loving anarchist communities. We also discuss psychology, therapy, communication, and the many faces of love.

If you don’t read any more of Hasnas’ essay than the intro, it is important to know this:

“…Anarchy refers to a society without a central political authority. But it is also
used to refer to disorder or chaos. This constitutes a textbook example of Orwellian
newspeak in which assigning the same name to two different concepts effectively
narrows the range of thought. For if lack of government is identified with the lack of
order, no one will ask whether lack of government actually results in a lack of order.
And this uninquisitive mental attitude is absolutely essential to the case for the state.
For if people were ever to seriously question whether government is really productive
of order, popular support for government would almost instantly collapse…”

I have maintained that the dictionary stresses “chaos” as a definition of anarchy BECAUSE rulers (politicians) are frightened of the very thought of Americans thinking “anarchy”. I blog daily and have found very few who can even consider anarchy as a good thing as opposed to massive chaos. Most are quite snide about it…..”guess you don’t want a fire department or police, etc…..I’ve been unable to convince them that most of us could put together any sort of help we may need. People’s minds are so very, very sealed shut.

Luc Lendrum-July 7th, 2016 at 10:52 amnone
Comment author #20321 on I Want You to Be an Anarchist by The Art of Not Being Governed

That anarchism “is about voluntary interaction and respect of property rights” strikes me as a curious notion. Different people mean different things by “property rights”, of course. On the one hand, there’s what one could call (for lack of a better term) natural property rights, whereby I don’t go dig a swimming pool in my neighbour’s garden, nor does she snoop around in my house when I’m away. If strangers come and try one of these stunts on either of us, we work together to stop them. I call these ‘natural’ because they arise spontaneously from respectful relationships, and require no hierarchy or centralized authority.

Then, on the other hand, there are legal property rights, which are necessarily governed by a central authority, ensuring that property will concentrate in the hands of those favoured by authority at the expense of everyone else.

Sam Swordsout-May 17th, 2017 at 9:45 amnone
Comment author #31728 on I Want You to Be an Anarchist by The Art of Not Being Governed

Serious question: in an anarchist society, who enforces the rules of self-rule and cooperation? In other words, who deals with those people who do harm others, and relate with violence?
To further clarify, what prevents, “might makes right” in a society where everyone must defend themselves from all-comers who wish to break the NAP?

Gen Agustsson-May 9th, 2019 at 9:49 amnone
Comment author #51170 on I Want You to Be an Anarchist by The Art of Not Being Governed

i didn’t realize the truths of anarchist/anarchy until i became one. We were not educated how to be a true anarchist in schools and communities until the word anarchy/anarchist need to be redefined. Anarchism isn’t violence, it’s a peaceful way to have. Public needs to be educated what true anarchy and apolitical mean plus almost all people are not much aware of it.